Methods and systems for generating customized user plans

ABSTRACT

A customized user plan is provided based on corresponding creator plans and user data. The creator plans may be generated by experts in their respective fields, by businesses, or by users of the system. The creator plans may be available for selection and/or purchase by users. A system may propose certain creator plans to a user. Once the one or more creator plans are identified for a particular user, the system generates a customized user plan based on these creator plans and corresponding user data, such as user input, user state, and privacy settings. External data and other plans of this and other users may also be used in generating the customized user plan. A single customized user plan may integrate multiple creator plans and set multiple goals for the user. The user plan may be dynamically generated and updated based on, for example, changes to the user data.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of prior U.S. application Ser. No.13/371,432, filed on Feb. 12, 2012, titled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORGENERATING CUSTOMIZED USER PLANS” the contents of which is herebyincorporated in its entirety by reference.

FIELD

This application relates generally to generating customized user plansand more specifically to computer-implemented systems and methods forgenerating customized user plans using creator plans, as well as userinput, user state, and privacy settings.

BACKGROUND

Planning is a process for accomplishing specific goals. Goals and typesof plans may vary depending on the planners and the people trying toaccomplish the goals. Plans may vary from a simple recipe to a complexbusiness scheme. A plan may be viewed as a blueprint for personal ororganizational growth and a road map for such development. A plan helpsin defining objectives both in quantitative and qualitative terms,accounting for available resources, and other factors.

Just as no two people or organizations are alike, their plans are alsonot alike. It is, therefore, important to prepare a plan that keeps inmind the necessities of the person or enterprise. A plan is an importantaspect of a human life or business. One may view the entire life of aperson or a lifecycle of an organization as multiple plans executed overa time period. Plans may be repeated many times (e.g., cooking accordingto the same recipe) or overlap with other plans (e.g., losing weightwhile, at the same time, looking for a new house) and may affect orconflict with each other.

Some plans are carefully prepared, for example, after conductingextensive research and analysis. Others plans are improvised. Whilecareful preparations may be valuable, such preparations may to asignificant amount of time and other resources, which could be otherwiseused for execution of the plans and achieving the set goals.Furthermore, many people involved in planning may not have sufficientknowledge and expertise to develop a correct plan. Even a seeminglysimple goal of losing weight may be overcomplicated by health history,knowledge of diet and exercise routines, the availability of exerciseequipment, time management, and other factors. On the other hand,offhand plans may be misguided and lead to incorrect results. Planningis further complicated when a person or organization tries to generateor execute multiple plans simultaneously. For example, multiple plansmay compete for the same resources (e.g., person's time or finances).

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

Provided are computer-implemented methods and systems for generatinguser specific plans based on corresponding creator plans and user data.The creator plans may be generated by experts in their respectivefields, by businesses, and even by users. The creator plans may beavailable for selection and, in certain embodiments, for purchase byusers. A system may suggest certain creator plans to a user. Once theone or more creator plans are identified for a particular user, thesystem may generate a customized user plan based on these creator plansand corresponding user data, such as user input, user state, and privacysettings. External data and other plans of this and other users may bealso used during generation of the customized user plan. One customizeduser plan may integrate multiple creator plans and have multiple goalsfor the user. The customized user plan may be dynamically generated andupdated based, for example, on changes to user data.

In certain embodiments, a computer-implemented method may involveretrieving the one or more creator plans based on one or more of thefollowing: a user selection of the one or more creator plans, anothersystem user's selection of the one or more creator plans, selection ofthe one or more creator plans, user data, and external input. The methodmay also involve retrieving the user input, user state, and privacysettings associated with the user. The method may then continue withgenerating the customized user plan based on integration of the one ormore retrieved creator plans with the user input, user state, andprivacy settings. The generated customized user plan includes a set ofinstructions to be executed by the user. The method may proceed withpresenting the customized user plan to the user and receiving one ormore responses from the user about completing one or more instructionsfrom the set of instructions.

In certain embodiments, failure by the user to respond to the presentedcustomized user plan may be considered a response that may further beacted upon automatically by the system, or by the designated system userwith appropriate clearance (e.g., a system operator).

In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method also involvesupdating the customized user plan based on the one or more responsesreceived from the user and presenting the updated customized user planto the user. Updating may be also performed based on changes to the userinput, user state, and privacy settings associated with the user inaddition to, or instead of the responses received from the user. Incertain embodiments, generating the customized user plan may involveadding external data to the combination of the data originally providedin the creator plan and user input, user state, and privacy settingassociated with the user. Examples of the external data may include anadvertisement, a product placement, weather data, a government healthdatabase of food nutrition, and a current mortgage interest rate. In thesame or other embodiments, a plan is generated based on other user datain addition to the user input, user state, and privacy settingsassociated with the user. Examples of other user data may include arelationship of the user with another user or group, success inimplementing one or more creator plans by one or more other users, andone or more related plans. For example, a user plan may be profiledafter another plan previously used by a friend of the user. In anotherexample, successful implementation of one plan may result in automatedgeneration of another plan.

In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method may also involvegenerating the one or more creator plans based on input from one or moreplan creators. The input from the one or more plan creators may beprovided using a plan creation tool, which may be an online web-basedapplication.

In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method may also involvecollecting a fee from the user based on the user selection of the one ormore creator plans. In the same or other embodiments, thecomputer-implemented method may involve providing a credit to the userbased on user selection of one or more promotions. For example, acreator plan may have a certain fee associated with the selection andusage of the creator plan for the generation of the customized userplan. The user may choose to pay this fee. Alternatively, the user mayparticipate in certain promotions (e.g., signing up for a gym membershipor purchasing a certain product) that may offset part of or the entirefee associated with the selected creator plan.

In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method also involvespresenting multiple creator plans to the user and receiving the userselection of one or more creator plans. Presentation of the multiplecreator plans may involve presenting one or more evaluationscorresponding to the multiple creator plans. Examples of the evaluationsmay be various forms of ranking of the plan itself or of the creator ofthe plan. Other examples include feedback by users, metrics associatedwith the popularity and success of the creator plans, and other forms ofevaluations.

In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method also involvessuggesting the one or more creator plans to the user based on the userdata or external input. For example, user data may indicate certainhealth conditions of the user, his or her financial state, timeavailability, social network, and other information that may be used tosuggest creator plans. In the same or other embodiments, generating thecustomized user plan involves integration of the multiple creator planswith the user input, user state, and privacy settings associated withthe user. As such, the multiple creator plans may lead to a singlecustomized user plan, which may still have multiple goals. Thisintegration may help to avoid user confusion when attempting to followmultiple customized user plans simultaneously. Furthermore, varioussynergistic effects may be found during integration of the multiplecreator plans.

In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method also involvescollecting the user input, user state, and privacy settings associatedwith the user. This operation may be performed using a set-up wizard.Furthermore, this information may be periodically updated orautomatically collected by the system and, in certain embodiments, usedto dynamically update the existing customized user plans or to suggestnew plans. In certain embodiments, the computer-implemented method alsoinvolves collecting additional information corresponding to user input,user state, or privacy settings associated with the user based on theselection of the one or more creator plans by the user. For example,generating the customized user plan based on the selected creator planmay require additional data that was not previously available (e.g.,current weight for a weight loss plan).

In further examples, the above steps of the method proposed herein arestored on a machine-readable medium including instructions, which, whenimplemented by one or more processors, perform the steps. In yet furtherexamples, subsystems or devices can be adapted to perform the recitedsteps. Other features, examples, and embodiments are described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Example embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitationin the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like referencesindicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic overview of various modules of the systemfor generating customized user plans based on the one or more creatorplans, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network segment for implementing variousaspects of methods and systems for generating customized user plansbased on the one or more creator plans, in accordance with certainembodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates architecture of the computer system for generatingcustomized user plans based on the one or more creator plans, inaccordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a process flowchart corresponding to the computer-implementedmethod for customized user plans based on the one or more creator plans,in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates plan creation and selection-related processesemployed by the system in generating customized user plans based on theone or more creator plans, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates various aspects associated with processing of data bythe system for generating customized user plans based on the one or morecreator plans, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a user welcome screen informing the user of planavailability and suggesting viewing the daily plan, in accordance withcertain embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a user daily plan, showing various categories andtasks in this plan, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 9. Illustrates a user interface intended for a detailed preview ofa nutrition category, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a plan store welcome screen, informing the user ofvarious creator plans available for the user to adopt and generatecustomized user plans, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system, within which a set of instructions forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein is executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example systems and methods for generating customized user plans aredescribed, in the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the example embodiments. It will be evident, however,to one skilled in the art, that the present technology may be practicedwithout these specific details.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one. In this document, the term“or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive “or,” such that “A or B”includes “A but not B,” “B but not A.” and “A and B.” unless otherwiseindicated.

Many aspects of life involve planning. For example, a person may set agoal of losing a certain amount of weight. The person may then develop aset of steps, such as dieting and exercising, to achieve this goal. Therelated planning may be a rather laborious process involving someresearch of diets, exercise routines, understanding their healthconditions, and determining any other factors. To simplify the process,people often make assumptions and ignore certain factors. This, in turn,may cause the plan to be unreliable or unrealistic. For example, theweight loss plan described above may require unreasonable timecommitment from the person.

Oftentimes, many components or factors used in developing one plan maybe used for creating another plan. In the above weight loss example, adieting component may include a list of recommended food items. Thislist may be used to create a shopping plan (e.g., a shopping list), acooking plan (e.g., various recipes using these food items), a financialbudget plan (e.g., an estimate of expenses associated with purchasingthese food items), and so on.

The proposed methods and systems involve a process of dynamic generationof a customized plan based on a collection of creator plans and based atleast on user specific data Other data, such as the external data andplans from other users, may be used for generating a customized userplan as well. In certain embodiments, a user may be a representative ofa group of users who acts on behalf of the group and makes a selectionof the creator plan for all members of the group, for example, a platoonleader may make a selection of the creator plan for his platoon. Thesystem may include one or more websites or applications for desktops,tablets, smartphones, and other types of computer systems and clientdevices. These websites or applications are accessed by the plancreators to create their creator plans, while users access the websitesor applications to provide various inputs, states, privacy settings, andother information, as well as to retrieve the customized user plansgenerated by the system. The customized user plans are built based onthe creator plans but are generally different from the creator plans.For example, the system may generate two different customized user plansbased on the same creator plan. As different user inputs, states, andother information were used to generate these two customized user plans,the resulting customized user plans may be quite different from eachother. In the above weight loss example, the customized user weight lossplan for one user may be focused more on dieting, while the customizeduser plan for another user may be focused more on exercising. Bothcustomized user plans may be generated based on the same creator plan.While the creator plan may serve as a basis for the customized userplan, it is tailored to take into account the various factors of aspecific user. The customized user plans are dynamically generated foreach specific user based on such data and may represent a comprehensiveversion of multiple plans (e.g., a combination of a weight loss program,social networking, and financial planning). For example, a group offriends may be involved in the same exercise plan in order toemotionally support one another and save on fitness instructions andequipment costs.

The creator plans may include a range of free and paid customizableplans that can direct and assist users in improving all aspects of theirlife, such as health, well-being, personal and professional success, andoverall life goals. The creator plans may be submitted into the systemby various professionals in corresponding fields and even by othersystem users. For example, a nutritionist may provide diet plans toachieve various goals, such as weight loss, controlling disease (e.g.,diabetes), and others. A real estate broker may submit a plan for savinga down payment for a house, a separate plan for obtaining a mortgage,and yet another plan for finding and purchasing a house. In certainembodiments, these real estate plans may be integrated with each otherby the plan creator, by the user, or by the core integrator. Plancreators may help users in complicated environments. Users are notexpected to recognize and analyze all aspects in each event or situationthey encounter, and they generally do not have the resources to do so.Reviews or verifications of the expertise or credentials of the plancreators may be made available to users. Furthermore, users maycontribute to the reviews of the experts or of their plans. In certainembodiments, the system may rank the creator plans based on theirpopularity, success (e.g., how many users have reached the set goals),and other criteria. The systems and methods may also provide a plancreation tool, which may be a web-based tool, used by the plan creatorsto design and build the various creator plans encompassing variousaspects of their particular expertise. The plan creators may postongoing updates to their creator plans, which may be made availableautomatically to users of those creator plans or, more specifically, toupdate the customized user plans that are based on the modified creatorplans.

The customized user plan is a set of instructions, which, through thefunctionality of the system, may guide a user in accomplishing aspecific task or assist the user in reaching a desired specific orgeneral goal. The internal structure of the customized user plan may beof many forms. For example, instructions of the customized user plan maybe organized chronologically. In the same or other embodiments,instructions may be grouped into a series of steps or sub-goals. Thecustomized user plan may be generated dynamically, which means that theinstructions provided in the plan may not only be specific to the user'sinitial input but they may also change and adapt based on changes to theuser's profile, preferences, associations, actions, feedback, andongoing results from this and other plans the user is following. Forexample, a weight loss plan may account for the previous meals consumedby the user, his or her feelings (e.g., sad, energetic, sleepy), weather(e.g., sunny, rainy), and other variables.

The creator plans may be made available to users through the plan store,which may be part of the user interface. The plan store may allow usersto browse and search various types of creator plans pertinent to theirdesired goals. The plan store may also guide users in selecting thecreator plans that would be of interest to them or that may bebeneficial to their overall or specific goals. In certain embodiments,the plan store may present semi-customized or fully-customized versionsof the creator plans to users. In certain embodiments, afully-customized version of the creator plan may be considered as thecustomized user plan. Thus, the plan store may offer the customized userplans in addition to, or instead of, the creator plans.

In certain embodiments, the newly created creator plans may be storedwithin a plan library. To select plans that meet some predefinedcriteria and can be used for a specific plan user or user group, thecreator plans within the plan library may be filtered by a plan filtererusing a plan filtering tool. The plan filtering tool or the planfilterer may be a plan user him- or herself, another system user (forexample, a designated system user with appropriate clearance (hereinalso referred to as a system operator)), or a software application thatwill perform the filtering based on the predefined criteria. After thecreator plans that meet the specified predefined criteria are located,they may be placed into a filtered plan library/plan store, thusbecoming available for selection by a plan chooser.

In certain embodiments, the filtered creator plans that are found in thefiltered plan library/plan store may be chosen by the plan chooser usinga plan selection tool. The plan chooser may be the plan user him- orherself, another system user (for example, the designated system userwith appropriate clearance (system monitor)), or a software applicationthat will perform the selection process based on the predefinedcriteria.

In certain embodiments, the one or more chosen creator plans that havebeen retrieved from the filtered plan library/plan store may be modifiedby a plan modifier using a plan modification tool. The plan modifier maybe the plan user him- or herself, another system user, for example, thedesignated system user with appropriate clearance (e.g., a systemoperator). It will be understood that the plan modifier is not limitedto a human and may, in some embodiments, include a computer system, acomputer script, or an automated device.

In certain embodiments, the plan creator, plan creator, plan chooser,and plan modifier may be one and same or disparate persons, one and thesame or disparate software applications, or a combination thereof. Forexample, the plan creator may be a system user other than the plan userthat the creator plan is intended for, while the plan filterer may be aspecifically designed software application that may or may not also beable to play the role of the plan chooser.

In certain embodiments, the creator plan may be modified by the planmodifier to include the executed customized user plans, or parts thereofof this or other plan user or users. In certain embodiments, thecustomized creator user plan may be modified based on the one or moreactions that have been taken by the plan user in response to one or moresystem messages. In certain embodiments, the plan user may be notifiedby the system that a certain planned action has not been performed byhim or her. This may be done using a timer. The plan user may then berequested to perform the missed planned action and to provide acorresponding input, based on which the customized user plan may beconsidered as executed.

In certain embodiments, the customized user plans may be renderedavailable for monitoring by other system users. In certain embodiments,the customized user plans may be adjusted or modified by the designatedsystem users with relevant clearance (system monitor). For example, if ahospital patient has not taken an important prescribed medication for awhile, the system monitor may modify the customized user plan of thishospital patient so as to notify him or her about the need toimmediately present him- or herself at the doctor's office.

In certain embodiments, monitoring of the fulfillment of the one or morecustomized user plans, as well as these plans' cancellations, may beperformed using a plan monitoring module. In certain embodiments, thesystem may notify the one or more system monitors about the failure onthe part of the user to perform an action the customized user plan ofthe plan user comprises. In certain embodiments, the system monitor mayinstruct the system to generate a message and send it to another systemuser or external recipient (for example, by email), thereby informingthe recipient of the message about, or requesting him or her to takesome action with regards to, the situation at hand. For the abovepurpose, a set of predefined, customizable system messages may be used.

In certain embodiments, the system may comprise an internal socialnetwork. The information that the plan user submits into the internalsocial network may be used by the plan integrator/processor/expertsystem in creating new customized user plans, as well as for modifyingthe current and executed customized user plans.

In certain embodiments, the creator plan may be chosen for the plan userby another user of the system. For example, a teacher may choose thesuitable creator plan for a student, sharing it with him or her throughthe system. The multiple creator plans may be chosen for the plan userby another user or the software application just as well, with the goalof narrowing down the scope of user selection while taking the planuser's preferences or special needs into account. The plan user may thenchoose from the given selection of the creator plans. This may beespecially useful when the multiple creator plans to choose from areallocated to a specific user group.

In certain embodiments, the one or more creator plans chosen for theplan user by another user of the system may be accompanied by thelatter's comments, for example, in the form of recommendations orinstructions on how the customized user plan to be generated based onthe chosen creator plan. In certain embodiments, the current customizeduser plans may be rendered reviewable to the designated system user withrelevant clearance (system monitor) and commented on by the latter. Thesystem may notify the plan user about his or her plan having beencommented on, including a notification by email. In certain embodiments,the creator plans may be automatically filtered by a softwareapplication based on some predefined criteria.

In certain embodiments, the current customized user plan may becancelled by the designated system user with relevant clearance (systemmonitor). In certain embodiments, the creator plan or plans, chosen bythe plan user for him- or herself, or chosen by another system user or asoftware application for this plan user, may be cancelled by thedesignated system user with relevant clearance (system monitor). Incertain embodiments, the system may be able to notify the plan user forwhom the cancelled creator plan was intended, and, in the same or otherembodiments, may notify the plan user who chose this creator plan aboutthe plan having been cancelled. The designated system user with relevantclearance (system monitor) who has cancelled the creator plan may beable to indicate the reason for the cancellation using a set ofpredefined, customizable messages.

In certain embodiments, the system may notify the designated system userwith relevant clearance (system monitor) when the multiple creator plansare allocated to a group of system users to choose from. In this orother embodiments, the designated system user with relevant clearance(system monitor) may cancel the above selection, thereby notifying theplan user by whom the decision about the cancellation was made. Thedesignated system user with relevant clearance (system monitor) may beable to add his or her comments to the cancellation notification, sentto the system user by whom the selection was made. Such cancellationnotifications may be sent via the system or by email.

In certain embodiments, the plan user may be able to share the one ormore chosen or allocated creator plans, or the one or more executedcustomized user plans, with other users of the system or specific usergroups, accompanying the creator plans with his or her comments. Thedesignated system user with relevant clearance (system monitor) may beable to receive notifications about the one or more creator plans orexecuted customized user plans being shared, and approve or disapproveof the sharing procedure, therein stating the reason for his or herdecision. In this or other embodiments, the one or more creator plans,or the one or more executed customized user plans may be shared usingthe internal social network of the system.

In certain embodiments, the system may enable the plan user to identifyother system users with similar current or executed customized userplans. In particular, this may be useful for enabling comment exchangeand sharing of related advice in the system's internal social network.In certain embodiments, this function may be supervised/regulated by thedesignated system user with relevant clearance (system monitor). Incertain embodiments, the customized user plan may contain links to, orbe otherwise associated with, media of different types (for example, itmay contain links to a video hosted by a public file sharing system). Incertain embodiments, the customized user plan may contain links to webresources that provide relevant content. In certain embodiments,multiple types of system monitors with varying authority may besupported.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the system 100 for generatingthe customized user plans 108 based on the corresponding creator plans102 and additional data, in accordance with certain embodiments. Twotypes of participants in system 100 may include plan users 120 and plancreators 122. The plan users 120 may utilize the customized user plans108 generated by system 100, while the plan creators 122 may generateor, more generally, provide the creator plans 102 to the system 100. Incertain embodiments, the same person may be both the plan user 120 andthe plan creator 122.

The creator plans 102 may typically be different from the customizeduser plans 108 and may be used by the plan integrator/processor/expertsystem 104 to generate the customized user plans 108. Additional data,such as user input, state, privacy settings (collectively represented bya block 106), the external data 114, and plans by other users or usergroups (collectively represented by block, 116) may be used by the planintegrator/processor/expert system 104 to generate the customized userplans 108. Each of these components and corresponding examples will nowbe described in more detail.

The plan creators 122 may utilize a plan creation tool 112 to developthe creator plans 102. Specifically, the plan creators 122 may submitvarious instructions, criteria, goals, and other data through the userinterface of the plan creation tool 112. The plan creation tool 112 mayinclude a graphical user interface. The plan creation tool 112 maycontain a plan integrator/processor of its own to assist the plancreators 122 with generating the creator plans. In other embodiments,the plan creation tool 112 or the plan integrator/processor/expertsystem 104 may be used by the plan creators 122 for this purpose. Theplan integrator/processor/expert system 104 may be used to simulatecreation of the customized user plans 108 based on the creator plans 102as the creator plans 102 are developed or generated. In certainembodiments, the plan creation tool 112 may automatically generate newcreator plans 102 based on previously generated creator plans 102, orbased on various inputs from the plan users 120.

The creator plans 102 may be algorithms that are used by the planintegrator/processor/expert system 104 to generate the customized userplans 108. In certain embodiments, the creator plans 102 include dataprovided by the plan creators 122, by the plan creation tool 112, or byother sources. The creator plans 102 may be generated by the plancreation tool 112, or by using some other facilities. The creator plans102 may be stored in an electronic form (for example, in a databaseassociated with the system 100 and further described below withreference to FIG. 2).

The creator plans 102 may include instructions that are chronologicallysequential or non-sequential. In certain embodiments, the order ofinstructions in the creator plan is different from the order ofinstructions in the corresponding customized user plan generated basedon the aforementioned creator plan. In the same or other embodiments,not all instructions from the creator plan may be used in thecorresponding customized user plan. Some of the instructions appearingin the one or more creator plans may be rearranged or removed duringuser generation based on user-specific and other data. The instructionsor steps in the customized user plans 108 or creator plans 102 may begrouped into sub-sets with specific sub-goals corresponding to one ormore of these sub-sets.

Some specific examples of creator plans 102 may include a diabetes plancreated by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., an exercise plan createdby an aerobics or yoga instructor, and a plan created by a certifiedfinancial planner directing a user in how to purchase a house (e.g.,more specifically, his first house). Other types of creator plans 102may be used as well. Some creator plans 102 may be created by the systembased on various inputs to the system. For example, the system 100 mayutilize the existing creator plans 102 to generate the new creator plans102. User feedback may be relied on to modify the existing creator plans102, or generate new creator plans 102. In certain embodiments, thesystem 100 may be coupled with a web crawler to search for additionalinformation or instructions for existing plans and even for fulfilledplans.

Some creator plans 102 may be offered to the plan users 120 for a fee.Other plans may be offered free of charge. In certain embodiments, thefee for the plan is determined based on the various feedback receivedfrom the plan users 120, such as the plan users' success in using one ormore of the plans, the users' satisfaction with their user experience,and other factors.

The creator plans 102 may have one or more characteristics associatedwith the plans and may be used, in certain embodiments, for presentingthese creator plans to the plan users 120. For example, the plan users120 may be made aware of the identity of the plan creators 122 or, morespecifically, they may be informed about their reputation, credentials,feedback, and other relevant information.

In order to generate a customized user plan 108, theintegrator/processor/expert system 104 may use the one or more creatorplans 102 selected by the user, or otherwise submitted to theintegrator/processor/expert system 104, as well as the user input, userstate, and user privacy settings, which are collectively shown as block106 in FIG. 1. The user input is defined as data created by the one ormore users or user groups during the course of their interactions withthe system. Examples include specific user feedback, (e.g., a userindicating that he or she is feeling depressed after following aspecific diet plan for a while), given in response to prompts by theintegrator/processor/expert system 104, and submitted by the user to theintegrator/processor/expert system 104, or to other recipients, andindirect responses (e.g., someone in the social network indicates apreference that indirectly affects the user). The user state is definedas a set of user-associated data stored in the system, which may begenerated by the user and submitted directly to the system. Theuser-associated data may also be submitted to the system indirectly, orgenerated by other users. The user state generally reflects the user'spast, current, and predicted future state. The prediction of future userstates may be performed by the integrator/processor/expert system 104,or by using other facilities. An example of a past user state may be anindication that the user has felt depressed previously. An example of acurrent user state may be the fact that the user now weighs 220 pounds.An example of a predicted future state may be the fact thatintegrator/processor/expert system 104 has predicted that the user willbe happy because his or her birthday is this upcoming weekend. Thisinformation/prediction may be submitted by other users.

Data corresponding to the user state may also include various biometricdata. Examples of biometric data include fingerprints, face recognition,Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), palm prints, hand geometry, irisrecognition, and scent. Biometric data may also include variouscharacteristics related to the behavior of a person, such as typingrhythm, gait, and voice. The system 100 may interface with varioushardware monitoring devices, such as Global Positioning System (GPS)units, heart-rate monitors, accelerometers used for exercise, wirelessweight/health monitors, and others. Data provided by these devices maybe received and processed by the integrator/processor/expert system 104when the customized user plan is being devised.

The user input, user state, and user privacy settings may be collectedusing a setup wizard 110. The setup wizard 110 may provide a set ofquestions to which the user will respond. These questions may bedynamically generated by the integrator/processor/expert system 104 tofacilitate the collection of user data and, in certain embodiments, thecreation of a user profile and user preferences in the system 100. Thesetup wizard 110 may also function to assist the user in selecting thecreator plans 102. The initial input provided by a user (e.g., using thesetup wizard 110) may be supplemented by other inputs from the user andother sources. These other sources may provide external data 114 and theplans of other users or user groups 116.

External data 114 is defined as data generated outside the system 100.Some examples of external data 114 include commercial advertisements,product placements, current weather data, a government health databaseof food nutrition, and current mortgage interest rates. The system 100may include specifically designed web crawlers that retrieve the neededexternal data from other sources. The web crawlers may be automaticallygenerated based on various parameters provided in the creator plans 102.The external data. 114 may be used to dynamically adjust the customizeduser plans. For example, if the system 100 determines that ageographical area of a particular user has bad or good weather, it maydynamically adjust the exercise routine based on this information.

The integrator/processor/expert system 104 may be a standard systemprocessor, which receives inputs from various other modules shown inFIG. 1, such as the creator plans 102 and user input, state, and privacysettings (block 106). The inputs of the external data 114 and plans ofother users or user groups 116 are optional as shown by the dashed linein FIG. 1. The integrator/processor/expert system 104 then uses suchinputs to create a unique or non-unique output in the form of thecustomized user plan. As stated above, the integrator/processor/expertsystem 104 may use multiple creator plans to generate a singlecustomized user plan. This process may be referred to as integration ofthe multiple creator plans and involves creating a set of steps toachieve multiple goals.

The customized user plan 108 represents an output of the system 100 thatmay contain one or more system-generated algorithms. These algorithmsmay be chronologically sequential or non-sequential, and they maycontain aspects and elements of the multiple plans that the user isfollowing. The non-sequential algorithm simply includes a list of tasksthat need to be solved in any order to achieve a result. Thenon-sequential algorithm may contain sequential or non-sequentialelements. The sequential algorithm may introduce an order in which thetasks are to be solved. The sequential algorithm may also includeintermediate goals and may require that the user repeats certain tasks.Similarly, the sequential algorithm may contain sequential ornon-sequential elements.

The customized user plans 108 may be dynamically generated. That meansthat if a change is made to inputs used for generating the customizeduser plan, this change may also initiate adjustment of the plan.Furthermore, subsequently acquired new data that was not availableduring the generation of the plan may be used to update the plan.

The customized user plans 108 may be generated from multiple sources,with the creator plan being one of these sources. Multiple creator plansmay be used. For example, if the user wishes to follow an anti-cancerplan and a weight loss plan concurrently, theintegrator/processor/expert system 104 may output a daily diet (i.e.,the customized user plan) that contains foods appropriate to both plans.

The generation and updating of the customized user plans 108 may bebased on the user's social network or his or her status. For example,the system 100 may rely on the social connections of the user to suggesta support system, organize events, and other functions. The statusinformation may be used to determine the time availability, emotionalstatus, and other factors pertinent to the generation and updating ofthe customized user plans 108.

The customized user plans 108 may contain some or all of the elements ofthe creator plans 102. The customized user plans 108 may also containthe external data 114 and other data. For example, the creator plan 102may set a goal for the user to lose 20 pounds and then, if the goal isachieved, it may set up a celebration party. When theintegrator/processor/expert system 104 determines that the goal is met,it outputs another customized user plan, or modifies the existing one tocongratulate the user on his or her accomplishment while alsorecommending some specific venues and activities for the celebration.The integrator/processor/expert system 104 may then retrieve certaindata from the user input or state to determine the user's preferences.It may be determined that the user dislikes Middle-Eastern food butlikes Italian food. In response, the integrator/processor/expert system104 would refrain from suggesting a Lebanese restaurant for the party,and may instead conduct a search for Italian restaurants in the area.

Before describing the various methods and associated operations, a briefdescription of a computer network is in order. Specifically, FIG. 2illustrates an example network segment 200 for implementing variousaspects of methods and systems for generating the customized user planbased on the one or more creator plans, in accordance with certainembodiments. Multiple computer systems 202 a, 202 b, 202 c may be usedby the plan users 120 or plan creators 122 for connecting to a plangeneration server 206, as well as to other servers via the network 204.In certain embodiments, the one or more computer systems 202 a, 202 b,202 c may include a plan creation tool or setup wizard, as describedelsewhere in this document. The one or more plan creation tools or setupwizards may be downloaded to the computer systems 202 a, 202 b, and 202c from the plan generation server 206. In other embodiments, they may beprovided in the online web-based format and the computer systems 202 a,202 b, 202 c may be connected to a plan generation server 206 via thenetwork 204 to use various functions of these applications. Variousexamples and features of the computer systems 202 a, 202 b, and 202 care described below with reference to FIG. 11.

The plan generation server 206 may be accessed by one of the computersystems 202 a, 202 b, 202 c to generate the creator plans, or customizeduser plans. In certain embodiments, different servers are used for thesetwo operations. The plan generation server 206 is also used to collectvarious data, such as use data, external data, and data pertaining toother plans. The various plans and data may be stored in one or moredatabases associated with the plan generation server 206. The plangeneration server 206 may also include or be attached to the planintegrator/processor/expert system 104.

The plan generation server 206 may be also connected to the socialnetwork server 208 hosting the social network 208 a. The social networkserver 208 may provide various degrees of access to data available fromthe social network 208 a. This data may be provided by users 120 usingthe computer systems 202 a, 202 b, and 202 c connected to the socialnetwork server 208. In certain embodiments, the social network 208 a andplan integrator/processor/expert system 104 are parts of the same systemand may be provided by a shared service.

The plan generation server 206 may also be connected to various externaldata servers 210 hosting various external data sources 210 a. Variousexamples of the external data are provided above. The plan generationserver 206 may retrieve the external data from the external data servers210 to generate and update the customized user plans.

The network 204 may be also used for communication among variouscomponents of the plan generation system. The network 204 may take anysuitable form, such as a wide area network (WAN), Internet, or one ormore local area networks (LANs). The network 104 may include anysuitable number and type of devices (e.g., routers and switches) forforwarding commands, content, or web object requests from each client tothe online community application, as well as for sending responses tothe clients.

The methods described herein may also be practiced in a wide variety ofnetwork environments (represented by network 204) including, forexample, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)-basednetworks, telecommunications networks, wireless networks, and so forth.In addition, the computer program instructions may be stored in any typeof computer-readable media. The program may be executed according to avariety of computing models, including a client/server model or apeer-to-peer model, on a stand-alone computing device, or in accordancewith a distributed computing model, in which the various functionalitiesdescribed herein may be implemented or employed at different locations.

A brief example of system architecture is now presented to provide somecontext for the various operations described below. FIG. 3 illustratesthe architecture 300 of a computer system for generating the customizeduser plan based on the one or more creator plans, in accordance withcertain embodiments. The left-hand part of the diagram illustrates thevarious types of clients, such as browsers provided on desktops andsmartphones, as well as the various software applications provided onthe client. These clients are connected using the Internet and variousprotocols to various input/output modules of the planintegrator/processor/expert system 104, which includes the core logic,portals, rules, and other modules. The plan integrator/processor/expertsystem 104 may also include a plan store module. The right-hand part ofthe diagram illustrates various types of data processed by the planintegrator/processor/expert system 104. Some examples include, but arenot limited to, web data, module data, user data, and social networkdata.

FIG. 4 is a process flowchart corresponding to computer-implementedmethod 400, in accordance with certain embodiments. The method 400 mayinvolve generating the one or more creator plans at operation 402. Atthis operation, the one or more plan creators input various data intothe system (for example, using the plan creation tool). As stated above,the plan creation tool may be available as an online web-basedapplication or a downloadable application. The plan creator may accesssuch an application and input various data. Examples of such data mayinclude various instructions for users to follow, criteria for selectingand modifying the instructions based on data of different users andother types of data, description of the plan, disclaimers and notices,information about the plan creator, and other data. Some of this datamay be suggested by the system. In certain embodiments, the plan creatormay use one of the existing plans or templates as a starting point andthen modify it as appropriate.

Part of the plan creation operation may be setting up usage fees for theplan, linking the plan to promotional materials, and using other ways ofgenerating monetary compensation for the plan creator. In certainembodiments, the system sets the fee payable to the plan creator basedon popularity, success, and other criteria associated with the plan.

A system may have one or more default user profiles (e.g., the mosttypical profile) for the testing of the creator plans. Furthermore, thesystem may have an engine capable of predicting whether the plan will besuccessful based, for example, on the feedback and history of the otherplans that have been available from the system over a period of time.

In certain embodiments, depending on specific system settings, the oneor more prediction results may be made available to the plan user, orone or more other users of the system, including the designated systemuser with appropriate clearance, the plan chooser, or the plan creator.The information regarding the probabilities of success of the particularcreator plan may be computed and presented dynamically by the system'sengine logic, i.e. all changes to one or more types of data/inputs thatthe creator plan is based on may automatically be taken into account bythe system, with the creator plan being modified accordingly. Theinformation concerning the probabilities of success of the creator planthat is made available to the user, the designated system user withrelevant clearance, plan chooser, or plan creator may include details asto which of the parameters of the creator plan are causative of thelowered or raised chances of the user's success. In this or otherembodiments, the success of the prediction logic may be utilized toevaluate the probabilities of the success of the resulting plan. Whenseveral creator plans are combined and integrated. For example, if a“pork diet” is combined with a “kosher diet”, or a “vegan diet” iscombined with the “Atkins diet”, the probability of success would bevery low.

The one or more creator plans may be stored in the database of thesystem and may be available for presenting them to the users of thesystem. Access to the creator plans may be unrestricted or restricted.For example, the plan creators or the system may set a fee for the useof some of the selected plans. The plans may be also restricted based onvarious demographic aspects, such as age, gender, and geographiclocation. In certain embodiments, these restrictions may be used by theplan creators or by the system to determine the efficiency of the planfor a specific user group and to conduct various studies, similar to theclinical studies that differentiate patients.

In certain embodiments, multiple plans generated through the same ordifferent systems may be available from the plan store. The plan storemay be arranged and function similarly to the App Store or AndroidMarket Place. Specifically, the creator plans may be categorized andranked based on their type (e.g., health or financial), availability(e.g., free, fee-based), popularity (e.g., number of uses), success(e.g., the number of users who have achieved their goals), ease of use,and other factors. In certain embodiments, the creator plans may becategorized by the likelihood of success for a particular user, which isdetermined based on the available information concerning the user, suchas the user age, health-related characteristics, and so forth. The planstore may be used for leaving comments, taking part in rankings, or forreceiving other feedback from the plan users 120. At some point in theprocess, the one or more plans may be presented to the user at operation408. The plans may be browsed or searched for in a database of thesystem, or elsewhere (for example, in the plan store described above).Additionally, the plans may be searched for or selected in otherlocations in the application as well. Users may find the creator plansbased on some key terms, plan creator identifications, and otherindicators. In certain embodiments, the one or more creator plans oruser plans may be suggested to the user by the system as shown by anoptional operation 406. Such a suggestion may be based on various userdata collected during the previous operations. For example, the user mayfirst provide the user input, user state, and privacy settings to thesystem at operation 404. The user data may appear to be alreadyavailable in the system due to the previous interactions of the userwith the system. For example, some of the data may be accumulated duringthe user's acquisition and execution of previous plans. In certainembodiments, anew plan may be suggested to the user based on thecompletion of some previous plan, as further described below. In certainembodiments, the user input, user state, and privacy settings arecollected using the set-up wizard, as explained above with reference toFIG. 1.

If any data on the user is stored in the system, the creator plans maybe presented (at operation 408) or suggested (at operation 406) to theuser in a partially or fully adopted format. In the fully adoptedformat, the creator plan may be the same as the user's plan. The fullyor partially adopted plan may be easier to review and understand, aswell as appear more appealing to the user than the generic creator plan.

At some point, the system may receive a selection of the one or moreplans from the user at operation 410. The selection may involve addingthe one or more plans to the user's shopping cart or account. During theselection process, the user may be presented with various legaldisclaimers (e.g., instructing the user to consult his or her physicianprior to using the plan), notifications, requests for additionalinformation, and other types of data exchange with the system.

If any of the selected plans involve payment, the method 400 may proceedwith collecting the fees from the user at optional operation 411. Theuser may be prompted to enter some payment information (e.g., creditcard information, online payment service information). In certainembodiments, the user may be offered an option to reduce or, in morespecific embodiments, eliminate the fees by subscribing to variouspromotions. For example, the user may choose a weight loss plan thatincludes exercise and dieting. The fee for the plan may be reduced ifthe user subscribes to a gym membership, agrees to purchase certain dietfood items from a selected source, or agrees to participate in someother promotional activities. In certain embodiments, the user mayreceive a promotional code for a free-of-charge or discounted purchaseof the one or more creator plans or for a free-of-charge or a discountedsubscription to the one or more creator plans. The offer may be madethrough a mailing or emailing campaigns, or through an existingmembership channels. In certain embodiments, the right to afree-of-charge or discounted subscriptions may be granted in the form ofpromotional discount coupons that may be distributed, for example, tohospital patients enabling them to join a diabetes plan free-of-chargeor at a discounted price.

The method 400 may involve retrieving the one or more creator plans atoperation 412. This operation is typically based on user selection ofthe one or more creator plans at operation 410. However, user data orexternal input may be used in addition to or even instead of the userselection for retrieving the one or more creator plans. For example, thecreator plan presented to and selected by the user may have variouslevels of complexity. Certain data associated with this user mayindicate that the user prefers simpler approaches to his or her plans.As a result of this preference reflected in the user data, a simplerversion of the plan may be retrieved. In certain embodiments, someexternal data may impact this retrieval operation. For example, a weightloss plan initially selected by the user may include instructions foroutdoor activities, such as jogging. At the same time, the weatherreport (i.e., the external data) may indicate conditions (e.g., rain)that may prevent the user from following this plan precisely. In thissituation, the weather report may be relied upon to modify the existingweight loss plan to refocus mostly on indoor activities. The user dataused to retrieve the plan may be available in the system or collectedfrom various external sources. For example, friends of the user maydiscuss the user's depressed state on a social networking site. Theseconversations may be analyzed by the system to update the user data andretrieve a plan intended for overcoming depression. The user may beasked to select any such plan from the system. The plan may also beretrieved based on a recommendation, or even be a gift from another userof the system.

In order to create the customized user plan based on the one or morecreator plans retrieved at operation 412, the process first retrievesthe user input, user state, and privacy settings at operation 414. Thevarious examples of these parameters are presented and explained above.In certain embodiments, operation 414 also involves retrieving theexternal data, plans of other users or user groups, and other types ofdata, as was described above with reference to FIG. 1.

At operation 416, the method 400 may then proceed with generating theuser plan based on integration of the one or more creator plans with theuser input, user state, and privacy settings associated with the user.In certain embodiments, the plan may be generated based on the externaldata or other user data in addition to other data mentioned above.Various examples of the external data and other user data are describedabove. In the same or other embodiments, multiple creator plans may beintegrated with the user data to generate a single user plan. Atoperation 418, the generated user plan is presented to the user.

The method 400 may proceed with receiving one or more responses from theuser at operation 420. The responses may concern completion (or not) ofthe one or more instructions provided in the user plan. The system mayprompt the user to submit such responses, for example, by sendingvarious notifications (e.g., e-mails or text messages).

The method 400 may also involve updating the user plan at optionaloperation 422. The updates may be based on the one or more responsesreceived from the user at operation 420, or based on changes to the userinput, user state, and privacy settings associated with the user. Oncethe updates are performed, the updated user plan is presented to theuser.

FIG. 5 illustrates plan creation and selection-related processesemployed by the system in generating customized user plans based on theone or more creator plans, in accordance with certain embodiments. Thecreator plans 102 may be created by the plan creators 122 using the plancreation tool 112 and uploaded to the plan store 506. The one or morecreator plans 102 may then be filtered by the plan filterer 508 usingthe plan filter 512 or plan filtering tool 510, and stored in a filteredplan library store 518, from which the creator plans 102 may beretrieved by the plan chooser 514 using the plan selection tool 516. Theone or more creator plans that have been filtered by 530 may be selectedand retrieved from the filtered plan library/plan store 518 by the planchooser 514 using the plan selection tool 516. The one or more creatorplans that have been selected may be modified by the one or more planmodifiers 522 using the plan modifier device 526 or plan modificationtool 524. The one or more creator plans that have been modified at 528may subsequently be uploaded to the plan store 506.

FIG. 6 illustrates various aspects associated with processing of data bythe system for generating customized user plans based on the one or morecreator plans 102, in accordance with certain embodiments. Theintegrator/processor/expert system 104 receives various inputs from anumber of the input sources. The data that is submitted into the systemmay include external data, commercial data, internal data, the inputsretrieved from the video/media library, biometric data, machine data,data from external social networks, and so forth. In certainembodiments, the input sources may comprise the internal social network(the input is user input processed by the internal social network), thesystem monitor (the input is a modified user plan or executed customizeduser plan), the plan user 120 (the input is a plan user-modified creatorplan, or an executed customized user plan), and executed system messagesthat are used as plan user inputs. The business monitor module 602 thatmay or may not be part of the plan integrator/processor 104 may be usedto track the usage of the system data by various commercial entities.Specifically, the business monitor module 602 may utilize dataassociated with various commercial entities to track commercialtransactions, thereby enabling calculation and charging of a percentageof profits or a fee. For example, the business monitor module 602 may beused to process commercial data associated with the product placements,product referrals, referrals to businesses, and partnerships-relatedcommercial opportunities. The system may be able to generate and exportreports, exchange messages with external systems, including the externalsocial networks, and so forth. The embodiment wherein the system forgenerating customized user plans based on the one or more creator plansincludes the business monitor module 602 may be thebest-mode-embodiment.

Some examples of generating graphical user interfaces by the planintegrator/processor/expert system 104 will now be briefly described.FIG. 7 illustrates a user welcome screen informing the user of theplan's availability and suggesting that the user view the daily plan, inaccordance with certain embodiments. The daily plan may be a subset of amore comprehensive, date-specific user plan. In certain embodiments, thedaily plan or the entire user plan may be integrated with the user'sother applications, such as, for example, with his or her calendar andtask list.

FIG. 8 illustrates the user daily plan, showing various categories andtasks that this plan may contain, in accordance with certainembodiments. In the described embodiment, the user daily plan includes anutritional category, exercise category, mind category, spirit category,beauty category, social category, and financial category. The taskswithin each category are represented by corresponding images. In thesame or other embodiments, the one or more tasks may be described usingtext.

When the user selects the nutritional category, he or she may be takento the user interface dedicated to this category, as shown in FIG. 9.This interface shows different meals and calls out specific food itemsfor each meal. The user may view the details of a food item byactivating the corresponding field. For example, the user may view thenutritional facts of any of the food items, reviews of the item,alternatives to the item, and more. Some of the items may be identifiedas promotional items, which are provided by retailers that will pay forthe inclusion of such items in the plan when users select these items.The nutritional category may be also used to explore various restaurantvenues (e.g., to access their menus, order take-out, get familiar withnutritional facts, view feedback, and so forth). The menu items fromthese restaurants may be added to the daily plan of the user. The samecategory may also allow viewing the current results in achieving thegoal and, in certain embodiments, the projected results based on thecurrent plan. Furthermore, the category may be used to generate shoppinglists and recipes based on the selection of the food items in the plan.

In certain embodiments, the related commercialization opportunities mayinclude promotional coupons that allow plan users to receive thepresented items at a discounted price, as well as various productplacements, product referrals, referrals to businesses, such as forexample, real-estate agents, restaurants, stores, car repair shop, andso forth. Products and services may be offered to plan users as a resultof partnerships with manufacturers, service providers, or other vendors,which may also be featured in the creator plans, for example, asrecommended by the vendors.

The application will dynamically choose the best or most appropriatecommercial recommendations or referrals for the user based upon a numberof different criteria, which may include, but not be limited to, userdata, user preferences, external data such as the value of the productor the value of the sale to the company, computed characteristics, andso forth and will be computed by an algorithm within the application.

A similar interface may be used for other categories. The interface mayallow for an interactive dialog with the user based on his or herprevious inputs. For example, one of the user inputs may be located andused to determine why the user favors one food item over another. Thischange or response may be recorded as one of the preferences in the userdata.

FIG. 10 illustrates the plan store welcome screen informing the userabout the various creator plans available for the user to adopt and useto generate the customized user plans, in accordance with certainembodiments. The creator plans may be categorized according to one ormore categories (e.g., categories listed above for the daily planexample and shown in FIG. 8). The creator plans may also be categorizedbased on the expert (e.g., nutritionist, aerobics instructor, personaltrainer, herbalist, and exercise physiologist), probability of thecreator plans' success with respect to a particular user, the selectionof the creator plans used by users of a social network who are connectedto this plan user, and can be based on various other parameters.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system 1100, within which a set of instructions forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein may be executed. In various example embodiments, themachine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine mayoperate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in aserver-client network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a portable music player(e.g., a portable hard drive audio device such as an Moving PictureExperts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player), a web appliance, a networkrouter, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The example computer system 1100 includes a processor or multipleprocessors 1102 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), or both), and a main memory 1108 and staticmemory 1114, which communicate with each other via a bus 1128. Thecomputer system 1100 may further include a video display unit 1106(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD)). The computer system 1100 mayalso include an alphanumeric input device 1112 (e.g., a keyboard), acursor control device 1116 (e.g., a mouse), a voice recognition orbiometric verification unit (not shown), a disk drive unit 1120, asignal generation device 1126 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interfacedevice 1118. The computer system 1100 may further include a dataencryption module (not shown) to encrypt data.

The disk drive unit 1120 includes a computer-readable medium 1122 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures(e.g., instructions 1110) embodying or utilizing any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1110 mayalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory1108 or within the processors 1102 during their execution by thecomputer system 1100. The main memory 1108 and the processors 1102 mayalso constitute machine-readable media.

The instructions 1110 may further be transmitted or received over anetwork 1124 via the network interface device 1118 utilizing any one ofa number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP)).

While the computer-readable medium 1122 is shown in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database or associated caches and servers)that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructionsfor execution by the machine and that causes the machine to perform anyone or more of the methodologies of the present application, or that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by orassociated with such a set of instructions. The term “computer-readablemedium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wavesignals. Such media may also include, without limitation, hard disks,floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital video disks, random accessmemory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and the like.

The example embodiments described herein may be implemented in anoperating environment comprising software installed on a computer, inhardware, or in a combination of software and hardware.

Although the embodiments have been described with reference to specificexample embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of the system and method described herein.Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

For the Examiner's convenience, Applicants note that this application isa continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/371,432. The claims ofthe present application are different and possibly, at least in someaspects, broader in scope than the claims pursued in the parentapplication. To the extent any prior amendments or characterizations ofthe scope of any claim of the parent or any cited documents could beconstrued as a disclaimer of any subject matter supported by the presentdisclosure, Applicants hereby rescind and retract such disclaimer.Accordingly, the references previously presented in the parentapplication may need to be revisited.

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a computersystem, a first creator plan and a second creator plan of a plurality ofcreator plans from plan creators, at least the first creator plan andthe second creator plan configured to be designed by the plan creatorsto provide first instructions and second instructions, respectively, toa user, at least a portion of the first instructions being differentfrom at least a portion of the second instructions; receiving aselection of at least one of the plurality of creator plans from a planselector or the user, at least one of the plan selector or the userbeing different from the plan creator; generating, by the computersystem, a customized user plan based at least in part on the selectionof the at least one of the creator plans and user information receivedfrom the user, the customized user plan comprising a combination of atleast the first creator plan and the second creator plan; and providingthe customized user plan to the user.
 2. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising receiving the user information from theuser at least in response to a request based at least in part on theselection of the at least one of the plurality of creator plans.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receivingsecond user information associated with the creator plan; updating thecustomized user plan based at least in part on plan modificationinformation received from a first plan creator of the plan creators, thecustomized user plan updated to implement the customized user plan basedat least in part on the second user information and the received planmodification information; and providing the updated customized user planto the user.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein thesecond user information includes at least one of external data, userstate, or a response about completion of at least one of the firstinstructions or the second instructions.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 4, wherein the response about completion of at least oneof the first instructions or the second instructions includes at leastan indication of whether the user has performed an action associatedwith the first instructions or the second instructions.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first creator planis independent from the second creator plan after the combination of thefirst creator plan and the second creator plan, and wherein the firstcreator plan is configured to communicate with the second creator plan.7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the userinformation includes at least one of information associated with a userstate or privacy settings associated with the user.
 8. A system,comprising: a memory configured to store computer-executableinstructions; and a processor configured to access the memory andexecute the computer-executable instructions to at least: receivecreator plans from plan creators, the creator plans configured to bedesigned by the plan creators to provide instructions to a user; providea customized user plan to the user based at least in part on a selectionof at least one of the creator plans; receive user informationassociated with the customized user plan; and update the customized userplan based at least in part on plan modification information receivedfrom a first plan creator of the plan creators, the customized user planupdated to implement the customized user plan based at least in part onthe user information and the received plan modification information. 9.The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to furtherexecute the computer-executable instructions to at least receive theselection of the at least one of the creator plans from a plan selectoror the user, at least one of the plan selector or the user beingdifferent from the plan creator.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein thecustomized user plan is configured to implement at least two differenttypes of plan categories.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein theprocessor is configured to further execute the computer-executableinstructions to at least collect a fee from the user based on theselection of the at least one of the creator plans.
 12. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the processor is configured to further execute thecomputer-executable instructions to at least provide, to the planselector or the user, multiple creator plans that include evaluations orcomments corresponding to the multiple creator plans, respectively. 13.The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to furtherexecute the computer-executable instructions to at least generate thecustomized user plan based at least in part on the selection of the atleast one of the creator plans and second user information received fromthe user.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor isconfigured to further execute the computer-executable instructions to atleast provide a suggestion of the creator plans to the plan selector orthe user based at least in part on the second user information.
 15. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to collectively performoperations comprising: receiving non-nutrition creator plans from plancreators, the non-nutrition creator plans configured to be designed bythe plan creators to provide non-nutrition instructions to a user;receiving a selection of at least one of the non-nutrition creator plansfrom a plan selector or the user; receiving information from the user;generating a customized non-nutrition user plan based at least in parton the received selection of the at least one of the non-nutritioncreator plans and the received information from the user; and providingthe customized non-nutrition user plan to the user.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, theoperations further comprising: receiving second information from theuser associated with the provided customized non-nutrition user plan;updating the provided customized non-nutrition user plan based at leastin part on plan modification information received from a first plancreator of the plan creators, the customized non-nutrition user planupdated to implement the customized non-nutrition user plan based atleast in part on the second user information and the received planmodification information; and transmitting the updated customizednon-nutrition user plan to the user.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the operations furthercomprising generating the customized non-nutrition user plan based atleast in part on the selection of the at least one of the non-nutritioncreator plans and second user information received from the user. 18.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, theoperations further comprising: receiving information related to abusiness associated with the non-nutrition creator plans; and providinga business referral or product placement associated with the businesswithin the customized non-nutrition user plan.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the customizednon-nutrition user plan includes at least one of a link to web contentor media comprising at least one of a video recording or an audiorecording.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 15, the operations further comprising calculating a probability ofsuccess for a particular user of each non-nutrition creator plangenerated by combining or integrating a plurality of the creator plans.21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein the non-nutrition creator plans comprise a financial plan. 22.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, whereinthe non-nutrition creator plans comprise a social plan.
 23. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein thenon-nutrition creator plans comprise an entertainment plan.
 24. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein thenon-nutrition creator plans comprise a commercial plan.